Tag Archives: shoe

Mosaic-like stools are made from the soles of discarded rubber shoes

Posted on by

The fashion industry is known for its striking designs, lavish materials, and sometimes mind-blowing forms, but it also has a dirty little secret when it comes to sustainability. Many of those materials, processes, and even ingredients have a tendency to harm the environment, especially mass-produced pieces of clothing, accessories, and footwear. Even something that sounds so innocent like the rubber soles of shoes can have a long-term negative impact on the planet’s health, especially when they’re thrown away without much thought. Although it’s not enough to make this discarded material disappear, these distinctive artistic stools help reduce their numbers while providing furniture that makes an impact in more ways than one.

Designer: BENTU Design

According to figures, 20 billion pairs of shoes are produced each year, and nearly all of those end up in landfills sooner or later. Footwear is usually made with half a dozen synthetic materials, with outsoles using plenty of rubber that takes more than a hundred years to decompose. Burning them, on the other hand, releases toxic gases, which is usually what happens in garbage disposal sites. Even though the process still uses water and energy, recycling these materials is still a significantly better way to deal with all the waste.

WU is a line of stools that does exactly that, giving new life to shoe soles that result in an even more interesting design. 90% of each stool’s raw materials are made from recycled rubber shoe materials, about 15kg of material that is equivalent to 60 rubber soles. It’s a small number compared to the amount of shoes being thrown away, but even just 10 of these stools mean 600 shoes are kept away from landfills.

The resulting design is quite intriguing as well. The raw materials are classified according to color to have a more uniform appearance, but the uniqueness still comes out in tiny bits of colors and microtextures. If some recycled plastics create a terrazzo effect, the recycled rubber soles result in finer and smaller pieces that have a grainy appearance as if painted with oils or mixed in with concrete.

The shape of the WU stool is also unusual, with a hexagon seat and a three-pointed base. This makes it easy to combine the stools into a larger form like a bench, though the connection will be superficial and perhaps a bit unstable. When placed together, these stools paint a rather eye-catching picture, almost literally, as if somebody took reality and applied a mosaic filter on it. Either way, no one will be the wiser that these were probably made from the pair of shoes they threw away years ago.

The post Mosaic-like stools are made from the soles of discarded rubber shoes first appeared on Yanko Design.

How this 3D printed footwear concept tries to push the limits of tech and design

Posted on by

3D printing is one of those revolutionary technologies that truly changed the world even years after it became a hot topic. Whether you’re a lone hobbyist or a small company, these seemingly magical boxes are able to bring ideas and dreams to life or at least help jump-start the process of testing and refinement. Despite its amazing achievements, 3D printing technology is actually still at its puberty stage, with plenty of room for growth and, more importantly, experimentation. Fortunately, there are plenty of designers, engineers, and dreamers who are willing and eager to push the boundaries of what 3D printers are able to accomplish, whether it’s in manufacturing, food, or design. This experimental shoe, for example, makes you look like you’re wearing some sort of sci-fi wireframe footwear, and its complex structure really puts 3D printers to the test.

Designer: Matthew Blunt

In the beginning, 3D printers naturally had very limited capabilities, able to build only closed forms or relatively simple shapes. The materials used would be variants of plastic that would be unsuitable for anything but the gentlest and driest applications. Over time, though, 3D printing has moved onto a wider variety of materials, like metal or even chocolate, and more complicated structures. EXPLR 02 builds on top of that to create a design that is one part made of geometric structures and another part inspired by nature.

The result is a pair of shoes that look like the wireframe that you’d see in 3D modeling software, though with an even higher resolution and number of empty spaces. The design, however, takes its inspiration not from those digital artifacts but from nature itself. Repeating patterns, organic forms, and an almost chaotic composition all come together to create footwear that is both beautiful and intriguing.

This kind of design also pushes the envelope of what can be produced by 3D printers, particularly because of structural and material requirements. The complex mesh structure of the shoes requires an agile and flexible 3D printer, while elasticity and durability would need to be provided by unconventional materials that might not yet be available on these printers.

Whether EXPLR 02 can be a useful and practical footwear design, however, is still an open question. The myriad holes on the shoe’s surface provide better ventilation but also has less protection for the foot inside it. The structural integrity of such a design can also be in question since the thin intersecting lines could make it less durable under rugged conditions. Once resolved, though, it could open the doors to usable 3D-printed footwear, which could, in turn, unleash the floodgates of creativity in coming up with fresh shoe designs.

The post How this 3D printed footwear concept tries to push the limits of tech and design first appeared on Yanko Design.

This shoe styler concept helps you put your best foot forward every day

Posted on by

A good number of people pay very close attention to the shoes they wear, day in and day out. They make sure the shoes are not only comfortable but also stylish, matching whatever look you might have going for that day. A bit ironically, however, most people don’t give their shoes a second thought after taking them off. Most of us take special care of the clothes we wear but are content to just leave shoes by the door, in the closet, or anywhere convenient. The lack of care for footwear, however, will have very negative consequences for our feet down the road, so this shoe styler appliance concept tries to envision an easy and convenient way to make sure you’re always starting the day fresh from head to toe.

Designer: Yeounju Lee

Given how we use them, our shoes are bound to get dirtier and more worn out than our clothes. Despite that fact, few of us probably think of proper shoe care beyond airing them out once in a while. That sad state of footwear comes to bite us back, however, when we start to feel uncomfortable in our own shoes, not to mention get irritated or smelly feet from our beloved sneakers. Just like any chore, it isn’t a matter of just laziness but more because of the lack of tools that make such a task easy and efficient.

Shoe styler appliances are starting to enter into people’s consciousness for these exact reasons. We are already making it easier to take care of our clothes using technology, so it’s only fair and perhaps long overdue that shoes finally get the same treatment. Day starter is such a concept and it focuses on not just storing shoes properly but also cleaning them to keep them in tip-top shape for as long as possible.

At first glance, you wouldn’t even be able to tell that the appliance is designed for shoe care. It looks more like a short cabinet with a stylized ridged door. Behind that door is indeed a sort of storage, one that’s designed to keep shoes sanitized and dry. This would help prolong the life of footwear, depending on the type of material, of course. There are different lengths of “sticks” that either hang your shoes up or keep boots straight so that they don’t get deformed over time.

Day starter, however, isn’t just simply storage for shoes. Using the appliance actually starts with the slide-out tray that you step on when you’ve returned for the day. The details of the design are a bit murky, but at some point, the shoes are washed and dried to clean them before storage. There are even bins for water that you’ll have to fill and eventually empty.

1

The shoe storage also functions as a shelf, particularly for things you might need when going out. It’s the perfect place to put down keys that you’ll pick up again the next day, turning it into that one place you’ll never forget. The design admittedly has some limitations, such as the number of shoes that can be stored inside at the same time. It does, however, bring to mind the importance of caring for footwear, especially given how we critically depend on them to go places.

The post This shoe styler concept helps you put your best foot forward every day first appeared on Yanko Design.

This parametric 3D printed sneaker is made entirely out of one single flexible material

Posted on by

Like Crocs, but infinitely cooler…

The Parametriks Print 001 sneaker makes clever use of design and material sciences to create a sneaker that’s comfortable, stylish, and easy to manufacture. Sort of like how crocks just use one material that’s injection-molded into the shape of a shoe, the Print 001 relies on 3D printing to fabricate its design… which was arrived at by using parametric algorithms.

Parametric Design involves the use of computational parameters that help guide the design process. In a lot of ways, it’s a collaborative design effort between human and computer, as the human sets the parameters and the computer comes up with a form that most efficiently fulfills those parameters. In the case of this shoe, Nathan Smith (also known by his Instagram moniker Parametriks) used a custom algorithm on Grasshopper to create a form that enveloped a foot perfectly while utilizing less material yet offering the same amount of flexibility.

The shoe/sneaker uses a rather intriguing triangular mesh matrix that warps right around the wearer’s foot, fitting it perfectly thanks to the shoe’s bespoke design. Made from TPU, the shoe is about as flexible as a pair of Crocs, while looking infinitely cooler and offering a level of breathability and flexibility that’s unmatched. Sure, the holes on the shoe’s sole open you up to pebbles, thorns, and water, but then again, this piece of footwear is purely experimental as it hopes to explore what a parametric piece of footwear can look like. I’d say I’m pretty happy with the visual results!

Together, 3D printing and parametric design could essentially revolutionize the footwear industry. 3D printing is increasingly being used by companies like Adidas to design forms that can’t be made through traditional manufacturing methods. Parametric design, on the other hand, involves using the wearer’s foot shape and size as a parametric input, so the computer knows what to wrap its material around. This allows footwear to be incredibly personal and unique to the wearer, making them just as, if not more comfortable than regular mass-manufactured shoes.

You can check out more of Nathan’s work on his Instagram.

Designer: Nathan Smith

The post This parametric 3D printed sneaker is made entirely out of one single flexible material first appeared on Yanko Design.

A Honda-incubated startup designed this genius in-shoe GPS navigation system that can guide the visually impaired

Posted on by




Designed to integrate right into the wearer’s shoe, the Ashirase uses a series of haptic ‘tickles’ to help guide the visually impaired as they walk, providing a much more intuitive and effective alternative to using a smartphone.

The Ashirase has a rather heartbreaking backstory. Honda EV-engineer Wataru Chino began working on the concept following the death of a slightly visually impaired relative under circumstances he deemed avoidable. Determined to come up with a much more effective solution to help the blind navigate roads freely and safely, Chino saw no alternative but to craft together a design solution. Honda even helped incubate the design and build the startup through its new-business incubation initiative, IGNITION.

Armed with one less sense, visually impaired pedestrians find it incredibly difficult to navigate to unknown destinations. With their limited senses occupied in concentrating on directions, they can often forget to pay attention to their surroundings or the roads, putting them in danger. The inverse is problematic too, because when they pay more attention to their immediate surroundings, they could in the process forget to follow the directions correctly and get lost. Chino’s solution helps the impaired concentrate on the road while also being able to intuitively receive directions in a less-distracting way. The wearable sits sandwiched between the foot and the wearer’s sneaker. This frees up the user’s hand to hold onto their walking cane (as opposed to their smartphone), and allows them to use their ears to sense their surroundings (instead of listening to audio directions).

The name Ashirase comes from the Japanese word ‘oshirase’, for notice/notification, as the in-shoe wearable helps notify the wearer while they walk, effectively guiding them through a series of vibrations. The in-shoe wearable comes in two parts – a silicone band that wraps around the foot, and an electronic ‘compass’ that provides the haptic feedback. Wearables on each foot help guide the user in any direction, guiding the wearer to their end-destination that’s fed into Ashirase’s smartphone app (which also decides the most optimal path for the wearer to take). The app currently runs on the Google Maps API, which provides a few limitations like needing the internet to work, and not being able to provide effective navigation indoors, although the company is already working on overcoming those drawbacks.

Chino’s startup plans on releasing a beta version of the Ashirase system in Japan in October or November of this year, where users will be provided with free versions of the wearable and the app for testing purposes. Following the public beta, Ashirase is gunning for a commercial-ready product by October 2022, with a subscription-based payment system that should cost somewhere between $18 to $27 (or 2000-3000 Yen).

Designer: Ashirase LLC (Wataru Chino)

Nike’s 2021 flagship football shoe is here and it draws inspiration from the swiftness of a dragonfly!

Posted on by

Dragonflies are ultra agile with the ability to propel themselves in any direction accelerating at 4 G linearly and 9 G – making sharp turns without loss of balance. That ability is attributed to the wing design of the insect with the flight muscles attached to the wing bases, making it hover in slow flight if need be. Nike Football Footwear Designer, Jeongwoo Lee took this natural structure of the dragonfly’s wings as inspiration for creating a lightweight Mercurial that football players have always dreamt of. On paper, the concept seems not as intriguing but the end result justifies the designer’s vision in a flurry of neon and metallic hues. A radical upgrade from 2019 Mercurial 360, this new boot design is the epitome of efficiency and lightweight aesthetics as the unnecessary elements have been shaved off for swift moves on the field.

The perfect example of Nike’s ideology “better is temporary ethos,” the new Mercurial Vapor 14 boot (a.k.a. Nike Mercurial Vapor/Superfly Dragonfly) is centered around four key areas – fit, touch, traction, and style. As Jeongwoo says, “We sought to create that same lightweight expression (of a dragonfly) with strategically placed materials for the new Mercurial. We think this is the future of speed and the kind of feel players have been asking for.” Adapting the unique design of dragonfly wings, the boot’s natural touch and upper feels just like the extension of the foot for swift acceleration and braking in any direction without loss in body balance. That’s attributed to the Nike Aerotrak plate for a springy feel. As Lee further exclaimed, “We’ve defined a brand-new kind of boot-to-ball touch. It’s tactile and grippy for control at high speeds, while also bringing flexibility at the same time”.

The Nike Mercurial Vapor 14 shoe has a premium lining where it’s needed, along with the Flyknit on top of the foot keeps you comfortable even after a long grueling match on the pitch. Combine that with the Vaporposite upper having a grippy lightweight mesh and you are all set for supreme control when the ball lands on your feet for the sublime touches. Nike has not shirked away from making this pair of soccer shoes to be absolutely flamboyant. To top it off, the shoes have the digital psychedelic palette drawing inspiration from the computer motherboards and become a way to celebrate the iconic Mercurials for the past 23 years!

Designer: Nike

This biodegradable shoe is crafted using waste materials and 3D knitting!

Posted on by

Sneaker culture has encouraged creativity but also added to a lot of waste since it is a part of fast fashion. Traditional sneakers have a short lifespan and with ‘drops’ increasing, people tend to buy and throw much faster. The complicated construction and the use of different materials (rubber, textile, various plastics, etc.) make these almost impossible and unprofitable to disassemble or recycle which is why Burfeind designed Sneature which is a sustainable sneaker alternative for the eco-conscious sneakerheads.

The shoe is crafted from many waste materials. The yarn made of dog hair (Chiengora) which is a biological waste being upcycled – this is innovation. Sneature is biodegradable as well! The design does take into account the functional requirements of a trainer and individual customization by the user. The process uses a 3D knitting technology that allows for customization and on-demand production while using the lowest possible energy consumption method.

The membrane is a protein-based 3D knit made from dog hair. It transports the functional properties of flexibility, stiffness, and air circulation with a very second-skin feel, similar to the sock sneaker style we’ve been seeing. These materials have natural properties that provide water absorption and release and anti-static properties. A thin layer of flexible bio-rubber/bioplastic forms the transition from the membrane to the sole. The junction of the membrane and sole is water-repellent against splashing or moisture from below awhile protecting the membrane in areas that quickly wear out. The transition also serves as a cushion and protects against rapid abrasion of all other areas in order to extend the lifespan of the shoe. The sole is made of mushroom mycelium which can be used as a composite material with local vegetable waste. The area is designed to be made of bioplastics which means this material can be produced at home or in a maker‘s lab like DIY materials.

“The sneaker was segmented into functional and structural areas (membrane, transition, sole) in order to implement the tested materials in a suitable way, taking into account the functional properties of the different areas. Because of the possible integration into an industrial production process, the membrane – the integrative core of the shoe – was created using a 3D-knitting technique. In order to approach the problem and conceptualize a solution, a fundamental factor for the ecological properties of every product – the material was examined. The design is based on a series of material experiments with natural raw fibers,” says Burfeind.

Designer: Emilie Burfeind

When Is a Shoe Not a Shoe? When It’s a Cake, Naturally.

Posted on by

I’ve heard the old expression “I’ll eat my hat” when betting on something improbable. But I’ve never heard anyone say “I’ll eat my shoe.” But I’d definitely eat my shoe if it were actually a delicious cake. Natalie of Sideserf Cake Studio has made some pretty epic cakes in her time, from hyperrealistic foods to nightmarishly creepy. Now, she’s made a cake that looks exactly like an adidas ZX 2K Boost sneaker.

Like most of her cakes, she made the structure from layers of cake and buttercream, then sculpted its exterior and sole from modeling chocolate. We love how she even accurately sculpted the tread pattern even though it’s mostly hidden underneath the cake. The video below shows off the full cake making process. While watching, I was actually ready to eat the shoe when it was just cake and buttercream.

Here’s a picture of the original shoe for comparison. Seriously, this cake is so accurate that if she wasn’t careful, she might try and put her foot into her dessert.

These modern sneakers are made from 98% plant-based materials

Posted on by

Corn, rubber, eucalyptus, and cork. These are the unlikely materials that come together to make the Kengos Lace-Up – a chic, clean, modern-looking sneaker that’s designed to safely biodegrade after you’re done with it.

The Lace-Up makes a very ambitious claim of being 98% natural and plant-based, making it environment-friendly and vegan-friendly too. Its aesthetic is guided by the materials used in it, resulting in a sneaker that looks distinctly unique. On top, you’ve got an upper made from Amaize, a corn-based fabric that’s hardy-yet-breathable. The upper body is lined on the inside with eucalyptus fabric, allowing the sneakers to regulate temperature, absorb sweat, and cool you down in the heat. The Lace-Up’s midsole comes made out of cork, which molds to the shape of one’s foot almost like a foam insert… and the outsole comes crafted from Kengos’ patent-pending Pure-Flex rubber, which is durable as a work-boot, but biodegrades nearly 35-times as fast.

Kengos is currently beta-testing their shoes, allowing a small group of people to purchase them and wear them for a period of 30 days. After a month, Kengos takes your feedback using a questionnaire and a small interview with its founders, and sends you a second pair of shoes for free when the Lace-Up line officially launches in November. When you buy a pair of shoes, not only do you become a part of Kengos’ effort to truly build something driven by real customer feedback, you also support a company with a goal of making products that are sustainable, environmentally friendly, and least impact the earth.

Designer: Dave Costello (Kengos)

This slip-on shoe is custom made for your foot, with a single wrap-around surface

Posted on by

The Walk Of Mind shoes are centered around a technology that allows users to get custom shoes made based on scans of their feet. Its slip-on design comes with a unique visual and tactile experience, appearing as well as feeling lightweight. The shoe’s light appearance can be attributed to the fact it looks quite like a feather or leaf wrapped around your foot, and the absence of the traditional thick sole found in shoes and sneakers makes it look/feel sleek and lightweight.

The slip-on is a combination of multiple materials, including the leather wraparound and an SLS 3D printed nylon sole that fits into it. The sole, designed specifically for each foot, comes with a bespoke pebbled surface that applies pressure on specific areas of the foot to relieve pressure, provide support, and give you a comfortable walking experience without the fatigue. What’s really unique about the Walk Of Mind footwear is the fact that its monosurface design and transitions seamlessly from sole to foot-cover. This means the shoe could essentially be flat-packed for more efficient shipping, or even have one shoe nested within another to create a much smaller package than with traditional footwear. Would be fun to see a video of a working prototype!

The Walk Of Mind shoes are a winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2020.

Designer: Hadar Slassi